17th-century bible represents a period that changed history

Staten Island Advance Photos/Irving SilversteinThe title page of the small New Testament that once belonged to "Sara Gubbins" displays an engraving of King Charles II of England and bears the date 1662.

During one of my Saturday morning flea market forays, I stumbled upon a small 17th-century bible. It was fragile, in need of a new binding and repair.

Opening it gingerly, I saw that the work was printed by John Field, Printer to the University of Cambridge, England, and had been published in 1662.

As I examined the bible, I noticed a man eyeing it anxiously, waiting for me to put it down so he could have a look. The vendor was asking only $20 for the book, so I quickly purchased it before anyone else had a chance to.

The man who had appeared eager to examine it himself asked if I would show it to him. Taking it, he asked if I would sell it to him and I declined. Suddenly, he produced a handful of bills from his pocket, offering me a price many times more than what I'd paid. I refused; if he were willing to offer me over $1,000 for my bible, I knew it had to be worth considerably more.

Bound in leather, the bible is decorated with silver etched corners and plaques engraved with depictions of Jesus and the saints.

This particular bible displayed beautiful silver etched corners and plaques engraved with depictions of Jesus and the saints. Its silver clasps were etched with delicate cherub heads, while the underside displayed the silversmith's initial "L."

KING CHARLES II

The title page exhibited a beautiful engraving of King Charles II of England and bore the date 1662. This New Testament had been printed only two years into Charles' reign, the year the king married Catherine of Braganza. Having originated in the historical century in which I am most particularly interested, I recognized that it would become an important part of my collection.

This bible bears a later, handwritten date of 1758, together with the name of the owner in an inscription that reads, "Sara Gubbins her book."

Early bibles -- indeed, most early books -- are especially interesting when intact and exhibiting their original silver mounts as this one did. Many early bibles were signed by their owners, since they were considered important. They nearly always were kept under lock-and-key in some sort of cupboard or "bible box."

Bibles usually were passed down from one person to another, one family to the next, which explains why one so frequently discovers later dates of ownership.Small ones, like the Gubbins bible, often were bound in leather. The decorative silver mounts no doubt increased the cost and value of such books.

During the 17th and 18th centuries in America, bibles were primarily imported from Holland, which had an extensive printing industry.

The story of how the printed bible came to be dates back thousands of years. Early bibles, dating from around 1400 BCE to 1400 CE were written on scrolls in the language of the day, most often Greek and Hebrew. Latin and then English versions were to come into vogue much later, although under the early Roman Catholic church, bibles were written only in Latin.

The first hand-written English-language bible was produced in the 1380s of the Common Era or Anno Domini, by John Wycliffe, an Oxford University professor and scholar who produced many English copies of the scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments.

The Catholic pope was not keen on the idea of the bible being published in English or the local language, and 44 years after Wycliffe's death, the pope ordered his bones dug up, crushed and scattered into the river.

It was not long before Johann Guttenberg invented the printing press and the Guttenberg bibles began to appear. This bible, with its minute detail and hand-colored illustrations, is priceless. Through the centuries, many bibles were printed, piled up and burned by the thousands.

THE ENGLISH BIBLE

The first legal, English bible was printed in England under Henry VIII, since he had renounced Roman Catholicism, declaring himself as the reigning head of state also to be the head of the church. This new branch, neither Catholic nor Protestant, became known as the Anglican Church, or, as it is known today, the Church of England.

Henry VIII was defying and thumbing his nose at the pope in part because the pontiff refused the king permission to divorce his wife so he could marry his mistress. As we know, the king eventually ignored the pontiff, divorced his wife and married his mistress anyway. And, as we also know, he went on to marry four times after that, beheading two wives and divorcing another along the way.

Numerous attempts at printing bibles and prayer books in the language of the people across other countries in Europe were rejected by the popes. Their desire to keep the bible and prayer books in Latin meant control could remain in the hands of the priest and church, rather than allowing the people to come to understand and learn the meaning of the holy books. Eventually, many across Europe followed the Protestant Reformation or Anglicanism and rejected Catholicism.

A PIECE OF HISTORY

The small New Testament I found one cold morning at the flea market represents a tiny bit of that story of rejection and the move to bring God's words to the people of England in 1662, during the reign of the Stuart monarchs.

My latest find is especially fascinating because it represents a period that changed history. A period when the bible could be printed in English and shared with those who could not, or did not wish to read Latin.

Unlike paintings, candlesticks, furniture and other objects, this little bible shows us the Word as it was delivered to the English speaking people in my favorite historical period.

George Way's Antiques column appears on the third Friday of the month in Home.